Carlos Osorio | Toronto Unrivalled | Getty Images
Reddit will allow the name of the purported whistleblower whose complaint sparked an impeachment inquest into President Donald Trump to remain on its platform, even after Facebook and Google-owned YouTube said they whim remove it.
In a statement, a Reddit spokesperson said the company does not “have a specific policy around whistleblowers. Our custom encourages an open discussion regarding issues of public and political relevance, however it forbids posting of personal info, or the encouragement of harassment or vigilantism.” Reddit will take action on posts that violate its policies, the spokesperson annexed, saying that “[c]ontext is important in these matters.”
Reddit has often taken a different approach to content moderation paralleled to other tech platforms. The company has a policy of “quarantining” forums that violate its policies, and did so with a popular forum for Trump enthusiasts after determining it encouraged violence. The platform’s structure encourages users to largely police themselves through arbitrators for each forum.
Twitter is taking a similarly stance to Reddit. The company has allowed the name and supposed photos of the CIA copper accused of filing the whistleblower complaint about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine’s president to remain on its platform.
In a disclosure, a Twitter spokesperson said based on the company’s private information policy, “any Tweets that include private advice about any individual, including the alleged whistleblower, would be in violation of the Twitter Rules.” But the name and supposed photo of the hypothetical whistleblower, “aren’t violative of the policy as they aren’t considered private information,” the spokesperson clarified in a separate report.
Several news outlets including CNBC have decided to refrain from publishing the name of the purported whistleblower out of safeness concerns, unless the person decides to go public.
Last week, Facebook said it would remove the name of the designated whistleblower from all posts and ads on its site. A spokesperson said at the time Facebook would “revisit this decision should their big shot be widely published in the media or used by public figures in the debate.” The decision came after Facebook has been condemned for other policies related to its political ads, like its decision not to fact-check or remove false ads.
YouTube has also decided to slaughter references to the potential whistleblower’s name. A spokesperson confirmed YouTube would remove videos that mention the putative name within the videos and in their titles and descriptions, using a mix of machine learning and human review to identify violators.
Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.
Alert: Reddit, Google execs testify on Capitol Hill to protect legal immunity from user content